Equipment and vehicles, including aircraft, often utilize sheets or long sections of metal that need to be clamped together or to a frame during assembly of the equipment. Assembly may include welding or other bonding processes. Typically clamps of various configurations are utilized to hold materials in place during welding, bonding or other assembly. For example, if welding is being utilized to bond segments of skin to each other or the underlying framing, the skin segments typically are held in place during that process.
Existing clamps often span the surface being clamped, being anchored at their ends. For example, metal bars, shaped to conform to the section or surface being worked on have been utilized as clamps, by being anchored at their respective ends and held tightly against the surface being worked on. It will be appreciated that clamping a bar at its ends across a work surface results in a differential amount of pressure being applied to the work surface across the span of the bar. This occurs because the bar deflects somewhat with the application of clamping force from the ends. Typically the clamped work piece is not held as securely in the center of the span of the clamp bar as it is near the ends where the ends are anchored. In some circumstances, this differential clamping force can result in insufficient clamping force being applied to the work piece, or differential stresses in the work piece after assembly. While larger clamping bars may be utilized to reduce deflections across their span when clamped against a work piece, increased size requires increased effort to manipulate and to use in jigs and assembly modules.
Therefore, an unmet need exists for adaptable clamps that provide improved clamping of surfaces during manufacturing operations.